There is a growing interest in tin-containing semiconductor materials like germanium tin (GeSn) and silicon germanium tin (SiGeSn) for many applications, such as, high mobility channel and strain engineering for advanced microelectronic devices, direct bandgap Group IV materials for photonic devices, or SiGeSn alloys for photovoltaic devices.
It has been found that the deposition of silicon germanium tin (SiGeSn) on certain substrate surfaces may be extremely difficult. As a non-limiting example, the formation of silicon germanium tin (SiGeSn) on the surface of a silicon substrate or on the surface of a germanium substrate may be extremely difficult and may be highly dependent on a number of factors, including, but not limited to, on the reactant precursors utilized for the deposition process. Accordingly, methods are desired for forming, e.g., depositing, silicon germanium tin (SiGeSn) layers utilizing optimized chemical precursors and conditions.